Vettel pointed the finger at Mercedes' Nico Rosberg for slowing him down after the world champion came only five hundredths of a second behind pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton.

"Nico couldn't see much in his mirrors I guess," Vettel said.

"I was angry at the time, at that moment, because I turned into turn 12 not knowing where to turn because I could not see anything."

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However, Rosberg insisted it was a case of mistaken identity.

"I don't think that was me," Rosberg said.

"I never had anybody behind me."

The pair continued their discussion at the post-qualifying press conference, so much so that Lewis Hamilton interrupted his answer to a question.

"Hey guys, I can't even hear myself talk," Hamilton said.

Ricciardo was even more aggrieved at Williams driver Valtteri Bottas after the pair almost collided at the final corner when the Australian was trying to complete a flying lap and the Finn was about to embark on his.

The incident prompted a post-session visit to the stewards for both drivers, and Bottas was hit with a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's race, demoting him to 18th on the grid. Ricciardo will start from fifth.

Ricciardo claimed it was not the first time that Bottas had got in his way.

"We raced each other a lot in the junior categories and I thought we had a lot of respect for each other, but it's a little difficult how many times he's done that now, so I'll go have a word with him," Ricciardo said.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and 19-year-old Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat were also called before stewards after their collision caused a red flag during the second qualifying session due to debris on the track.

AP

1 comment so far

I don't think it was as bad as the writer made it out to be. Good attempt at further villainizing Vettel though. Here's the official transcript:SV: Nico couldn’t see much in his mirrors, I guess. Obviously I was on a flying lap and Nico was preparing his hot lap, if that’s correct, and not much happened. Obviously I was pissed off at the time because... sorry, I was angry at that time, at that moment because I turned into turn 12 not knowing where to turn in because I couldn’t see anything. The lap was lost but equally I think there was another car in front of Nico...NR: I don’t think that was me.SV: No, so then it was Lewis. I think it was a Mercedes.NR: I don’t think it was me. I never had anybody behind me.SV: Anyways, I ran into traffic, not really, there were two seconds or three seconds gap but enough so that the next corner was completely blind. That’s it.